Mayday, mayday: Apple’s latest ad campaign faces groans from all sides | Hacker News Reader

Mayday, mayday: Apple’s latest ad campaign faces groans from all sides

arstechnica.com

11 pointsevo_96 comments

I was talking with a friend at work yesterday. He is a Windows/Android guy (Windows for gaming, Android because it's not an iPhone). He really liked the commercials (though he felt Basically was pretty close to douchebaggery).

The point: maybe these commercials aren't geared at patting the Apple elite (I am one of them!) on the back about how smart they are. Maybe they are about introducing a different audience to Apple and we elite are too close to it to see whether it is effective or not.

That's the only one I thought was bad - I really dislike Apple picking on the small guy (the sleazy looking guy who apparently sold fake goods), and the ad doesn't end up on a positive note.

The other ones (the airplane one especially) aren't bad, and make a point - you can do things pretty effectively on a Mac. They still don't have the elegance or panache of some of the other Mac ads, but let's not kid ourselves - some of those Mac vs. PC ads were pretty horrible.

I can't help but feel like people are already convinved that simply beacause Steve Jobs wasn't involved that apple has lost it's magic, regardless of the actual content of the ads. If they released the Mac Vs PC ads now, people would probably denounce them as the worst ads ever made, convinced Steve would never let ads like that fly.

I would love to show these ads to two groups of 100 people and tell one half that the ads were made after Steve Jobs died and tell the other half they are the last ad series he helped work on before he died. I get the feeling the second group would be a lot more likely to spill out sentences like "oh wow, I can see the new bold direction he is taking, these ads are amazing!" or "Wow, he really knows what the current market is like, these ads are amazing!".

I like these commercials. I can see why others might dislike them but I would much prefer to see these during the commercial break than Apple's more famous spots.

The "I'm a Mac" spots were arrogant. They flared rivalry and caused Mac vs PC flame wars to increase in intensity. And now-days with IBM contributing consider open source man power the 1984 spot is ironic. These new commercials are mellow, fun, and maybe a bit bland. They no longer position Macs as a social signal but rather as a quality computer. Which is the correct tactic for Apple to take when targeting the larger computer market.

I have to wonder if this ad would have made it past "The Steve" while he was at the helm. It seems very out-of-sync with what they did then.

Is this indicative of where Apple is heading I wonder?

I love that we expect and hold Apple to a high standard of advertising.

If they say we get the leaders we deserve (by the leaders we do, or don't demand), maybe the same is true of ad campaigns?

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